Kansas City leaders may have shuttered the brothels and torn down the stockyards that once defined the town--and the mobsters may have blown themselves up in disco bombings back in the '70s--but there are still plenty of stories to tell...

More by Carolyn Szczepanski

At its peak, City-Wide Auto Repair had eight employees on its payroll and kept three bays busy with repairs. "We used to do more inspections than anybody in the state of Missouri," boasts Steve Frisbee. Now his business has become a dumping ground.

When Foibe Nibitanga got a ticket to a new life in the United States, she didn't expect the fear and hunger of the refugee camp to follow her to Kansas City. The Burundi native leans forward, trying to speak over the cries of toddlers who, in the absence of toys, play with couch cushions and a set of keys.

Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II stands in an elevator on the first floor of Kansas City, Missouri's City Hall on a dreary Wednesday afternoon. Cleaver, flanked by a security guard, is heading to the 26th floor, where the City Council is about to meet and discuss the prospect of an $18 million infusion to the historic 18th & Vine Jazz District...